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Traders, Truckers Protest Cameroon-Chad Border Closing Over COVID

Moki Edwin Kindzeka

   YAOUNDE - Traders and truck drivers in Cameroon and Chad held a
   nine-minute protest Wednesday on the N'Gueli bridge that crosses the
   border, with each minute symbolizing one month since cross-border
   traffic was restricted in March to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

   The group that organized the protest, the Association of Truck Drivers
   in Chad and Cameroon, called for an immediate reopening of the border.

   Forty-seven-year-old Chadian truck driver Mal Goni says the lack of
   trade has devastated his income.

   Chadian drivers should be allowed to transport goods from Cameroon to
   their capital, N'Djamena, he says, and Cameroonian drivers should be
   allowed to transport goods coming from Chad.

   Cameroon authorities say before March 5, when the first cases of
   COVID-19 were reported, at least 1,200 people crossed the bridge each
   day.

   Since traffic was restricted, they say, the daily number crossing the
   bridge is less than 200.